


Three Embraces

by Rex_Magnus



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Alien Biology, Chubby Hux, M/M, Mpreg, Weight Issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-01
Updated: 2016-06-01
Packaged: 2018-07-11 15:53:25
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,407
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7059319
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rex_Magnus/pseuds/Rex_Magnus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Emperor Hux is about to celebrate the second year anniversary of the end of the war and the beginning of his official reign as Galactic Emperor, but something doesn’t feel quite right. There’s something palpable in the air that makes him look over his shoulder, even when he has Lord Protector Kylo, his husband, right there with him. He fears for both himself and for Kylo, along with all manner of courtly things during this ceremony and celebration.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Three Embraces

**Author's Note:**

> Art by GenerallyHuxurious on tumblr! Thank you so very much for the lovely, lovely art!!

 

As Emperor Brenden Hux stood before the crowd with his husband, the Lord Protector Kylo Amidala, at his side, he felt at peace with the universe, the Force, himself... _everything_. There wasn't anything more he could want in this moment. He looked to Kylo, looking splendid in his black and silver armor, clutched tightly to his hand he was holding and smiled. And in that moment it took for the Emperor to smile at his husband, everything fell apart. 

 

Kylo's face turned from joyous to concerned as something _changed_ around them. The change was imperceptible to Brenden, but the next thing he knew, Kylo was bleeding out on top of him. 

 

"No, _no_ ," he wept, clutching at Kylo's motionless form. Brenden didn't dare move him for fear of his husband bleeding out. "Help him!" the emperor cried out to _anyone_ who would heed him, too distraught to even care about the tears streaking down his face or the other bodies piled around him. 

 

Phasma was there. She carefully gathered the still form on top of Brenden and placed him on a hover cot as she issued commands to the medical staff nearby. 

 

Brenden’s ears were ringing. His gaze fixed on his husband’s light saber hilt. It had been left behind as the medical team rushed off with the body. Phasma shook him, but he didn't hear anything she said. He could only grip the hilt in his hand as he wept, surrounded by the dead and wounded. 

 

After a flurry of movement and more noise, he was in the medical center. A cold, pristine environment that was completely devoid of life and color. His weary, cried out eyes were fixed, unseeing, on his husband immersed in bacta, the doctors talked to him, but it no longer mattered. 

 

No one, no thing, mattered to the emperor other than the thought of his whole life falling apart. Engulfed in madness and in pain. By fire and by void. 

 

Darkness gradually encroached on his vision. And then, finally, consumed him. 

 

 

 

The weeks passed with the emperor consumed with doubts, shame, and concern. And it all was because of something idiotic; Kylo had only been worried about him when he had said it. 

 

Yes, Brenden had gained some weight since they had been married just the year before. And it had only become more and more evident the last few months as he grew out of the clothes he had been crowned in. Yet, due to his inattention, he continued to gain weight during the two weeks Kylo spent in the bacta tank. The clothes that had been loose on him just before the ceremony were now tight around his waist, his thighs, his arms...

 

He hadn't even been thinking about it until the medical staff came in to pull Kylo out of the bacta. That's when the shame about his added weight began to consume him. Brenden had not given a single thought concerning his own physicality as he had mechanically eaten _everything_ — an amount that should have been too much for him — that was brought to him the past week. He had been overwhelmed by the certainty that if he left Kylo, his husband would die. 

 

Once Kylo was awake and fine, he would tell him he'd lose the weight. That he would go back to being his "Bren". There was no contest in that. The Lord Protector was more important to him than anything. Even his own selfish indulgences. 

 

It would be hard for Brenden, but he would do whatever it took to make sure he pleased Kylo. Outside of being emperor of the galaxy, his most important thing in life was his husband. He decided that he would ask the tailor for a girdle. That would at least help with his recent gains and help him fit better into his existing clothes. Before the day was over, he had several made for him.

 

Whatever it took, he would make it so that Kylo would not have to worry over him any more, at least in that regard. Because, of course, then there was the matter of an heir.… 

 

This was something that Brenden hadn’t thought for years before the assassination attempt. And now, since he had not taken care of it, it had come back to haunt him. 

 

The first days that the emperor was watching Kylo, he couldn’t think much of anything else, but then slowly, thoughts of an heir turned toward himself, his incompetency of pleasing Kylo due to his recent weight gain. Now that was settled, by the day before Kylo woke, however, Brenden found himself thinking of heirs once more. 

 

His data pad was full of information concerning the available technologies available in the galaxy, convenient or not, he would find the best way to have an heir by himself and Kylo. Given what he knew of Kylo, a surrogate would be necessary to carry the child. While that might complicate matters to include another person, this seemed to be the only way that a child would be healthiest and with the least amount of exposure to certain… lapses in judgement. 

 

And that was the only thing he had decided in all of this time on this rather simple matter. 

 

Brenden scowled, a hand raising to his temple to massage it. There had to be an easier way for this go about… Perhaps he could ask—

 

_SLAM._

 

The abrupt noise rattled him, causing him to reflexively check his girdle. A touch told him that it was still in place, secure around his waist. Then he looked to Kylo in the tank. His eyes went wide. 

 

Somehow, Kylo had woken up whilst immersed in the bacta tank. “This isn’t supposed to happen! Kylo! Calm down,” Brenden urged. How had he not noticed that Kylo was waking up? That had been what he’d sworn to himself that he would do. Instead, he had been so busy thinking of his petty self-interests that he had completely ignored his husband’s awakening. 

 

He rushed to the console and hit the panic button. The emperor knew better than to help Kylo out of the tank. He might kill him in his effort to help Kylo and he would hate himself forever for doing that. As he panicked, more than eagerly awaiting the doctors that his efforts had summoned, he pressed his nose to the glass of the tank and tried to talk his beautiful husband into relaxing.

 

——

 

Deep brown eyes glossed over his form. Brenden knew what his husband was looking for. And he had done his best to be rid of the one thing that would be wrong when Kylo woke up. Otherwise, “They didn’t lay a finger on me,” the regal ginger man told him. 

 

Kylo seemed to be relieved by this, but his gaze lingered for a second too long and then flitted away. "Good," he finally replied, voice uncharacteristically even. 

 

Was Kylo still mad at him for what had happened before? Brenden clenched his fists, unsure why he felt so much anger about his husband's lack of emotion after all that had happened. 

 

"You managed to kill both of the assassins that attacked us, but not before you were severely injured, yourself. We are unsure who sent them, but we do know that they aimed to have me removed from the emperor's throne." He paused to judge Kylo's face and emotions, then added, almost offhandedly, "A pity you didn't leave one alive to interrogate. It's been a while since I had my hand at an extraction such as that and I've rather missed it."

 

The Lord Protector looked at him again and scowled. He didn't approve. Good. At least there was still some emotion left in him. Perhaps Kylo was just merely... disappointed that Hux wasn't singing his praises for rescuing him from the deadly assassins. Ha! As if Brenden would let him have the satisfaction of that when he was more than capable of protecting himself. 

 

When it was clear that Kylo wasn't going to make a snide retort, he went on. "We need to think of an heir," he began, "and there seems to be no better way than to find a surrogate that we both find competent for completing this duty for the good of the Empire."

 

His husband merely nodded, although Brenden thought he saw some shadow of emotion behind those dark amber eyes flicker when he had said that so... matter of factly. _Good, let him dwell on that. It's for the good of the Empire, which is his duty to protect._

 

There was little else to talk about, especially in front of the doctors and staff that bustled about Kylo, double and triple checking his vitals and how well he had healed before releasing him into Brenden's care. 

 

For all he had dwelled on everything, now that Kylo was awake and well, he was torn. He wanted to be mad at his husband for being so emotionless and yet at the same time wanted to endlessly apologize for everything he seemed to have done wrong. His weight, his lack of judgement and response when everything had happened. It had been so unlike the ruthless Emperor Hux that everyone knew and expected him to be. He had gone soft and that was something that was inexcusable. 

 

There had been a time when his enemies would have trembled at the very sight of him; now, he didn’t believe they would even recognize him as the same man. Things had changed. And not for the better, he thought. There wasn’t enough of the ruthless General Hux who then became the even more merciless Grand Admiral Hux and eventual Emperor.

 

Once, when he had succeeded in crushing most of the resistance and united all of the inner systems, and had even rebuilt a better, more efficient Senate for the Galaxy, he had been feared and respected. The very sight of him made his enemies tremble in his wake. And that was before he’d gotten the throne. He’d tamed the fearsome Kylo Ren and had formed him into the perfect warrior, built to destroy foes of his new, grand empire that he was shaping, who then slaughtered the previously all-powerful Supreme Leader Snoke. 

 

While he had relied on Kylo Ren for aiding him in building his Empire, he also became rather attached to him in a personal manner. Their relationship had transformed… no longer were they merely just using one another for physical pleasure and venting sexual frustrations, but they had grown closer together in more ways than just one. Kylo had begun to fall in love with the to-be-emperor and had even proposed that they marry after Brenden had become the Emperor that he had always dreamed of being. And so it was. 

 

Not without a sense of debt that Brenden felt to Kylo, despite the other insisting that all he needed was his husband. He constantly replied to the emperor’s question of reward with “all I want is you,” just as he had when he’d claimed his first reward when he had saved his sister all those years ago when they had first met. 

 

While wonderful and romantic, Brenden hated debt to anyone, no matter what kind of debt that it was, but especially now, since Kylo had saved him yet again. Now, he owed him twice over. The only thing that the Emperor could think of to repay Kylo was with the children he so desperately longed for. There was no desire for heirs, like Hux was consumed by the thought of. He merely desired children for the sake of giving his children a chance that he never had, insisting that Brenden would be able to do the same thing for their children and that they would both be much better fathers than their own parents had been for them. Raise them properly, without fear of death constantly at the door, without insisting on them training for war and for violence, without the expectation of performing to the highest of their own standards without thinking of what they want, themselves. All of that to say, Kylo insisted, that Hux would make a fantastic father, despite what the Emperor thought of himself. He could just imagine Kylo’s arms wrapping around him, supporting and loving, without judgement or expectation. 

 

A pair of strong arms surrounded him, pulling him from his reverie. “Bren, I think you might be too tired to be working on this paperwork for now,” came a deep voice, pleasant and calm. Then, a kiss on his cheek.

 

Kylo had become much more of himself over the past few weeks, which eased Brenden’s mind, but he couldn’t help but still regret what he had done, plaguing him, even in his sleep. He couldn’t help worrying that Kylo still held something against him for being so weak, although he constantly insisted that it was his job to do as Lord Protector. Which he was back to doing, already, regardless of what Brenden had said. Especially with the investigations of the security and intelligence staff members concerning the night of the attack. 

 

“It’s still too early…” he mumbled, pulling Kylo close.

 

“Too early? No, I think you deserve a break,” the taller man replied, rather decidedly. The emotion was back in his voice and especially in his eyes, which helped Brenden from worrying as much. 

 

“Fine, you go to work and I’ll use the refresher and then go to bed. I expect you to join me in a few hours,” the Emperor demanded of his husband, locking eyes with him. 

 

He stood and ran his hands through Kylo’s hair, which had gotten even longer over the past few years. Not that Brenden was complaining, he enjoyed how soft and wonderful it was, especially when Kylo experimented with different styles, reminiscent of his great-grandmother’s hair styles. It rather suited him, with his dark hair and complexion. He smiled as they kissed, Kylo’s hands slowly wrapping around Bren’s waist, exploring, touching, traveling to his hips, caressing him needily.

 

“Not now, dear,” Brenden breathed when their lips parted. “Don’t you have to go to work, interrogating those traitors?” he mused. 

 

“True enough,” he smirked, kissing his husband playfully. “Maybe tonight we could…?”

 

“Perhaps, if I’m awake when you come back. If you’re a good boy,” he replied, smiling back at the other, pulling his hands off of his waist.

 

“Then I’ll do my best. Love you.”

 

“Love you,” Bren repeated, smiling as Kylo went through the door to their rooms.

 

After he was certain that Kylo had left, Hux began undressing, sad that Kylo wasn’t there to be with him and be intimate with him, but at the same time, Kylo hadn’t been quite himself. Ashamedly, he removed the girdle he still wore, muscles tense as he held his belly in as he looked in the mirror. Scowling, he thought again of how soft he’d become. But… the way Kylo had touched him. Even thinking of him, he glanced to the doors, just to make sure that he wasn’t there, waiting for him, watching as he undressed. He wouldn’t have blamed Kylo for sneaking back in, after the Emperor had put him off for so long. 

 

Before moving to the ‘fresher, he relaxed as he grabbed a towel, then looked over his shoulder at himself in the mirror. He had truly gone as soft as he had thought, he noted. There was still that softness to him that he hated so much that Kylo had pointed out to him just before the assassination attempt. His husband hadn’t said a word about it since he had woken up, but he knew what he was thinking: how weak his husband had gotten -- how much more he needed to protect Bren from everything out there. Shaking his head, he moved to the refresher.

 

In the ‘fresher, though, Brenden recalled just how Kylo looked at him hungrily, longing for his husband after having gone without for so long. The last time they had sex, Kylo had been so zealous and excitable. Thinking back to just those couple of weeks before, Brenden smiled, touching himself in all the places that Kylo had at the time… fingers trailing down over his ass, the inside of his thighs, pinching sporadically. While pleasurably deep in memory, part of him began to realize just how much bigger he’d gotten over the past year since the two of them had married. How much softer he’d gotten, and the places that Kylo had been touching… it hadn’t just been his rump and thighs, but his stomach as well as his chest. 

 

As he thought more and more about that time, the more tempted Brenden was to turn the water hotter and cave into the need that filled him as he imagined Kylo in the refresher with him. Sighing, he grit his teeth and turned the water colder. He promised Kylo that he would let him have sex with him, more or less. And denying him again and again had just made the other suspicious and worried. Hux knew it was only a matter of time before Kylo demanded an explanation, even though the Emperor was certain that the last thing that his husband would want is to see just how soft he’d--

 

Then the thought occurred to him that perhaps Kylo hadn’t thought he’d gone soft but was pregnant. _No, that’s impossible_ , he thought to himself, finding himself fervently touching himself with both hands at his waist, terrified. He was infertile, the doctor had said so with such certainty. Despite inheriting his grandfather’s rather... _different_ biological make-up, Brenden wasn’t capable. He hadn’t even had a period in at least three years, which he was more than thankful for. Kylo knew about it all and had been accepting, but regardless of how much Brenden had insisted and the doctors kept saying that he wasn’t capable, Kylo still seemed to hold out some kind of hope that they would have natural children of their own. _It just wasn’t possible._ Ever since they had started their relationship, no matter the pure sexual nature of it in the beginning, Kylo had always asked questions. At first, Hux had thought that it was just about the possibility of him accidentally getting the General pregnant, but now he began to wonder if Kylo had been more invested in their relationship than he had thought even from the beginning. 

 

After he finished up in the refresher, Brenden finished getting dressed in his nightwear and observed how he looked without the girdle on in the mirror. He scowled again at his reflection, but with the way his belly had rounded out, he was confident that Kylo thought he was pregnant. He certainly was beginning to look it, without the girdle, not that Kylo had seen him without it recently, but those wandering hands were sure to have felt just how “firm” his middle had become, although that was due to the girdle rather than anything else. 

 

“You look lovely.”

 

“K-Kylo?!” Hux jerked upright, sucking in his stomach instinctively at the presence of the voice. He turned, eyes wide, and stared at his husband, standing in the doorway. Thankfully, the doors behind him were closed, but Brenden couldn’t help but wonder just how long he’d been there. He grimaced at the thought. “I know what you’ve been thinking,” he finally began, his heart racing. Brenden didn’t want to crush all of Kylo’s hopes, but… it was time to come clean. 

 

“Oh? What have I been thinking?” The man strode over, his hands automatically going to Bren’s waist as he wrapped himself around the other. 

 

“That I’m pregnant -- it’s not possible. I’m sorry, but it’s just not going to happen and I’m definitely not pregnant now. I’m just...” he sighed, breaking eye contact with his husband. He hated even admitting this, but this was the only way to do it. “I’ve just gotten _fat_.”

 

“You’re not fat, love, you’ve just... filled out,” Kylo shrugged and then smiled. “Besides, not that I would mind. I thought you knew how much I liked just how much softer you’ve gotten.”

 

“You… that was…” Brenden’s scowl deepened. “You _like_ this?” 

 

“Always have, love,” the younger man insisted. “And with this little bit of extra weight you’ve put on, you don’t look so sickly. You look… _healthy_. And quite a bit more sexy, in my opinion.” Kylo pressed himself more firmly against the other, his member quite hard, Hux could feel through the layers of their clothes. 

 

“This really does excite you,” Brenden observed, smiling a bit shakily, still unable to meet the other’s eyes. 

 

“Of course,” Kylo replied, his hands kneading the little bit of extra his husband had kept from him. “Just relax. No matter what, I’ll always love you. If you want to be skinny and sickly-looking again, that’s your decision, but I think you look very lovely and rather sexy. Remember just how big you were when we first met? Just that bit of belly hanging over your waistband… _mmmm_.”

 

Brenden couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “You’re unbelievable,” he sighed, pushing back at Kylo. “I can’t be like this. I can’t be seen as soft, even if you do enjoy it. Perhaps during a time of peace, I can see it, but this… this just isn’t acceptable for the Emperor of the Galaxy to be seen as soft or excessively indulgent when there are still enemies making themselves known. As we saw with the attempt on my life, which you bravely saved me from… and I thank you for.”

 

Kylo shook his head. “No. The people of the galaxy already know who you are -- they know who has protected them in this time of peace, who united them and has kept the peace and expanded trade and prospered the planets within your rule. We’ve had more than just a few join us since you’ve become ‘soft’, my dearest Emperor. Your physical appearance has nothing to do with how you rule, you don’t have to restrict yourself for the approval of your father or for the approval of the soldiers under your command. They’ve volunteered to protect you. They love you. You’re the stars-damned Emperor of the Galaxy, Brenden Hux. No one cares if you’ve filled out a bit.

 

“And as for our few remaining enemies, if any one of them so much as _thinks_ of harming you, you _know_ they will feel my wrath. And I’m not just saying that as your husband: I am your Lord Protector, and you are my Emperor.” Kylo drew his husband closer. “Let me do my job.” 

 

Hux stares at his husband a scowl still etched on his face. The look he gives Kylo says everything he wants to: ‘You’ll see just how bad I’ve gotten, you’ll know this is worse than you think it is.’

 

“Love,” Kylo began as he pulled Brenden closer, “relax, I love you, just—“

 

He was interrupted by his husband’s kiss and there was nothing to stop them as they fell into bed together with Brenden on top at first, deepening the kiss as they ground against one another. Soon enough, however, Kylo flipped them and pushed the Emperor against the cool sheets of the bed, whispering just how deeply he felt about Brenden and everything he was going to do to him to make up for their lost time together. 

 

Kylo tore at Brenden’s sleep pants, yanking them down roughly, splitting a few seams, which he merely chuckled at, his husband moaning in pleasure as he kissed a trail down his chest to his member. Hux came to attention easily, since he’d been so close when he was in the refresher. There wasn’t anything to stop him from giving into this completely and fully as Kylo finished taking off his own trousers and tunic, arching his hips into the other’s. 

 

As they continued to rut against one another, Hux felt an incredible heat wash over him, pulling him deeper and deeper into its waves, his hips angled up against Kylo’s faster as the dark haired man pressed his slicked cock into him. The sensation was immensely pleasurable despite the fact Brenden knew in the back of his mind that all of Kylo’s hopes for getting him pregnant, no matter how often he had insisted he wasn’t trying, was all for naught. 

 

“Kylo…” he panted between kisses, pleasure accentuating his words in waves, “I need you…. harder… _harder…_ _Please_.”

 

His answer was almost immediate as Kylo drew out more than before and then nearly slammed into him, his length going deeper than ever before. 

 

“Yes, yes, _yes_ … _!_ ” Bren purred, fingers digging into Kylo’s flesh as he continued to pound into him, grunting in exertion as he continued. 

 

The Emperor was nearly screaming in time with the crashes of intense bliss he felt as Kylo continued to ram into him, sweat beading on his brow and slicking his long hair, which brushed against Hux as he moved against him. 

 

At last, Brenden arched into Kylo one last time, biting down so hard on his bottom lip that he swore he tasted blood drip into his mouth, his cock spurting cum in an unsteady stream down his own softened belly and onto Kylo’s hard abs. A few more pumps into him and he felt warmth spread through him, filling him as he sighed into Kylo’s mouth, kissing him again and again. 

 

Kylo pulled out of his husband carefully, trying to keep his seed within him, still hoping for a miracle, Hux noted, then collapsed next to him. After a few minutes, the dark haired man chuckled lightly, still panting lightly.

 

“What?” Brenden asked, raising his eyebrows at the other, only slightly concerned, the pleasure still clouding his mind. 

 

“That was…. amazing,” he replied, grinning widely. “I think you could… stand to gain… even a bit… more, actually…”

 

 

Brenden shook his head at his husband. “You’re a pervert,” he laughed, spooning into Kylo. “But, I still love you.”

 

“And I love you, my dearest Emperor.”

 

—

 

Brenden found himself desiring his husband more and more over the course of the next few weeks, to the point of needing him urgently at times. As their love life improved, he found himself becoming more comfortable in his new, softer body. He even allowed himself to indulge, letting Kylo bring the Emperor his favorite treats and feed them to him. And as his husband’s figure continued to fill out and grow even more luxuriously soft, Kylo relished every moment.

 

And then, just as everything in the Emperor’s world had righted itself and was better than ever, once again, the world came crashing down around him.

 

Brenden awoke in agony, sickening pain shooting from his belly into his back and legs. The Emperor of the Galaxy could do nothing but curl into a ball and clutch his stomach. His moans woke his husband lying beside him.

 

“Bren? What’s wrong?” Kylo turned on the lights to find his husband shivering, tangled in a knot of sheets soaked with sweat and - to his horror - blood.

 

Brenden felt himself being lifted into Kylo’s arms and rushed to the medbay, panic creeping into his whispers as he tried to soothe his husband. He was barely aware of anything beyond his pain, but as he was placed on an examination table he heard Kylo listing off the desserts he had brought him that night. The relevance eluded him until one word pierced the fog of his pain: “poisoned.” 

 

He heard Kylo shouting at the doctor, outraged at something as his Emperor lay on the table in agony, sobbing as waves of pain wracked through his body, tears running down his face. No matter how horrible this all felt, he would regret loosing control of himself like this. There was no excuse for him to be so damn weak like this. Brenden felt like he was about to die, reached out to pull his husband closer. He didn’t want his last words to the other to be anything other than, “ _I love you_ ,” which he somehow managed to choke out.

 

The doctor rushed over to him and began shouting at Kylo, almost pushing him away from Bren, a distraught look on his face. Brenden knew that it was for his own good that he was separated from his husband, despite how he wanted to cling to Kylo for what seemed to be the rest of his short life. As pain began to completely cloud his vision, a cool wash of relief came over him as he closed his eyes, the pain receding a bit as he fell unconscious.

 

—

 

He woke to a friendly smile of one of the nurses hovering over him, attending to his needs, checking his vitals and whatever else it was that they seemed to occupy themselves with. 

 

“How long do I have?” he asked, groggily.

 

The woman merely smiled and shook her head. “You’re not going to die, my Lord. Let me get the doctor.”

 

Brenden sobered quickly. _He wasn’t going to die?_ _What was all that pain for if he wasn’t poisoned… was he poisoned? If he wasn’t, then what was all of that for??_

 

“Sire,” the doctor began. The same doctor that had shoved Kylo out of the way when things seemed to have been desperate. “This wasn’t poisoning. You’ll be just fine, in fact.“

 

“Then what in the stars was it?!” he demanded, more than frustrated by everything.

 

“It looks as if it was just your period causing extra amounts of pain. I’m not sure about the details or anything, but it would seem like your body is beginning to revert to its more alien nature rather than the human nature.” The doctor paused and consulted his chart, scrolling through a few of the pages on the pad he held in his hands. “At least in your reproductive system. The changes your husband has described to me seem to be indicative of your alien biology… although he said that you haven’t menstruated in approximately three years, correct?”

 

“That would be correct,” Hux replied, concerned. “What do you mean by ‘reverting to my more alien nature’?”

 

“That, I’m afraid, I don’t know too much about. We will have to get a different doctor in to examine you that knows more about your hybrid nature. Does your mother know of any doctor that might be able to aid us with this? I can perform some more tests in the meanwhile, but I doubt that I could interpret them as well as a Lehonese doctor could.”

 

After more discussion, Brenden found himself becoming drowsy and slipping back into a deep sleep as the nurse administered some more pain medication. The doctor had also told him Kylo had stormed off when he’d been forced away from the Emperor to go find out who was responsible for poisoning his husband and had not responded to any calls on the comm or through the holo-net. As he drifted into slumber, he could only think of just how excited Kylo would be in reaction to this news. 

 

—

 

He woke again to his husband asleep at his side, a worried expression etched in his features. Brenden smiled a bit sadly as he carded his hands through Kylo’s long hair. While he didn’t want to wake him, he was more than excited to be able to share the news that the doctor had shared with him. 

 

“Bren…?” Kylo moaned, slowly waking up, shaking his head a bit to aid in that attempt. “I… I did as much as I could, but I couldn’t find out—“

 

“Don’t worry about it, love. I’m going to be okay,” as he said this, the expression on Kylo’s face turned from sad to a brilliant smile. “In fact, the doctor thinks there might even be a slim chance that I can actually conceive. Although highly unlikely, he wants us to wait for—“

 

“ _Stars_ ,” Kylo blurted out interrupting him, the smile on his face absolutely radiant with joy. “ _We’re going to have a baby, Bren!_ ”

 

The Emperor smiled back at his husband, willing to let the other rejoice in the slightly more likely chance of his dream. He just didn’t want to break it to him that it was only a very slight chance. He would tell him the rest of the details later. For now, he wanted to let Kylo celebrate the victory they had for now.

 


End file.
